


But They Were Coworkers

by ssrhpurgatory



Series: Synchronicity Fractals [4]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Second Chances, annoying coworker, disaster bisexuals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:35:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29727726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssrhpurgatory/pseuds/ssrhpurgatory
Summary: Alexander never expected to see the woman he spent an unforgettable night in an airport hotel with again after they parted ways without exchanging contact information. But when his lab manager gets fired and he gets transferred to a lab at the his company's other location, he discovers that heisgoing to see her again. Daily. In the lab they now share.Oh, and by the way, has he mentioned that this is the coworker who hates him?One of three potential and non-overlapping sequels to Synchronicity.
Relationships: Alexander Hilbert/Original Female Character
Series: Synchronicity Fractals [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2126490
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Synchronicity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28371990) by [ssrhpurgatory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssrhpurgatory/pseuds/ssrhpurgatory). 



> I finally accepted that this one was going to be long enough to need chapters too, and I'm theoretically more likely to finish a thing if I post at least some of it, so here we go, adding another in-progress fic to the pile.

Rosemary Epps sat down at her work computer, opened her email, and groaned. Her post-holiday reprieve was apparently over. There was an email in her inbox from one of the researchers who worked at her company’s other location, asking where the numbers were on a sample she definitely _hadn’t_ been asked to grow. She felt a brief tug of revulsion upon reading his name in the signature: Alexander, just like the fellow she’d spent a marvelous night with in an airport hotel over Christmas vacation. Only _this_ Alexander was a pain in her ass, and not in the good way. He was always complaining about her not doing her job properly when half the time he’d forgotten to actually put in a request for her time on a project, and the other half of the time his manager had forgotten to pass the request along to _her_ manager. Annoying as fuck under normal circumstances, but for some reason this time it was _really_ getting under her skin.

She supposed it had to do with that other Alexander, who had been kind and sweet and apologetic when she had laid into him for staring at her, and who had seemed as if he wanted to make giving her as many mind-blowing orgasms as possible his life goal during that night they’d spent together. But it wasn’t useful to focus on that right now, because she’d said goodbye to that Alexander almost three weeks ago and they hadn’t exchanged contact information. And it was probably better that they hadn’t; no real person could live up to that night they’d spent together, and it would have inevitably lead to disappointment when he turned out to be just as fallible and human as she was. Dwelling on it would only make her maudlin, and put her in even worse of a mood as she tried to deal with _this_ Alexander.

And deal with him she would, one way or another. Thank goodness they didn’t work in the same location; if she ever found herself face to face with the man, she was fairly certain her first instinct would be to throw hands. Not that that was likely to ever happen, but she was keeping the option in reserve.

Just in case.

Alexander read Dr. Epps’ extremely terse response to his email with a frown on his face. Was it so hard to get the numbers that Alexander needed? They did not even need to be very accurate—though, Alexander was forced to admit, Dr. Epps’ accuracy was the main reason he always requested her time for this sort of thing when she was available—but this was intolerable. And that snide remark asking if he was certain he had put the request in. But he actually _had_ this time. His lab manager had verified it this morning.

Although... Matthew had been known to tell Alexander that he had done things that absolutely had not happened. But he had shown Alexander the sent email on his screen this time.

...what had been the date on that email, anyway?

Alexander picked up his lab phone and dialed his manager’s extension.

“Matthew.” The man sounded as if he were only half paying attention, which could mean that Alexander was interrupting him in the middle of something important, or which could mean that Alexander was interrupting him in the middle of looking at photos of his grandchildren on Facebook. It was Alexander’s opinion that Matthew should have retired a decade ago; Matthew regarded all new technology—except that which let him look at photos of his grandchildren in the middle of the workday—with a deep and abiding suspicion.

“Matthew. It is Alexander. When did you send that request for Dr. Epps’ time in?”

“This morning.”

Alexander only just managed to not swear at the man. “What?”

“You said you wouldn’t need it until after you got back from your vacation,” Matthew said accusingly, clearly picking up on Alexander’s tone of voice and not liking what he heard.

“I said I would need the _numbers_ once I got back. She would have had to start at least a week ago to have them to me now.”

It was clear Matthew didn’t care. “Well, the request is in,” he said in a tone of voice that indicated it was not his problem any more now that it was out of his hands.

Alexander let his impotent fury out on a sigh. “Cancel it. Will be quicker to just run that part of the experiment myself.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” Alexander hung the phone up before he could give in to that urge to swear, which had returned with a vengeance. Though it wasn’t just Matthew who was making him want to swear, if he were honest with himself. His visit with his family had distracted him for a little while, but by the time he was halfway through the visit, he had already started kicking himself for not getting Rosemary’s last name or phone number or email address or just… just _something._ Some way to find her again, some hope of seeing her again. That night they had spent together had been one of the most memorable of his life, and the thought that it would never be repeated left him unexpectedly maudlin.

That thought that distracted him enough in the moment that it didn’t even occur to him to email Dr. Epps and apologize until several weeks later, at which point he decided it would be pointless. No point in reminding her of his lab manager’s fuck-up when it would only annoy her. After all, he relied on her collaboration and those very accurate numbers she provided. Best to keep her in a good temper, if he could.

Best to slip into the routine of work and not think about Rosemary at all.

After all, it wasn’t as if he would ever see her again.


	2. Chapter 2

“Did you hear?” Rosemary’s manager, Janet, stuck her head around the open door into Rosemary’s lab, a grin on her face that stopped just short of mania.

“Did I hear what?”

“Matthew finally got himself fired,” Janet said, almost laughing the words.

“What?” Matthew had been a fixture of their company’s other location for the past 30 years... and had been the reason why Rosemary had put in for a transfer to this location, when it became clear that he wasn’t going to manage her _or_ her lab and the situation wasn’t going to get any better. “Twenty years too late, but better late than never, I suppose. What finally did him in?”

Janet shrugged. “No idea. If I had to guess, he fumbled the wrong board member’s pet project.”

“What’s going to happen to his labs? Are they hiring someone new?”

“Last I heard, they were considering shutting the whole branch down. Don’t know if they’re planning to keep any of the research staff on if they do, though. They might transfer them here, I suppose.”

Rosemary laughed. “I can’t imagine where they’d put them.”

Janet gave the lab a considering look. “Well, if we did split shifts and shoved a few more incubators in here...”

“Ugh. No thank you.” Rosemary stuck her tongue out. “This place is cramped enough as it is. I absolutely refuse to share.”

“You might not have a choice,” Janet said, her voice bland but the words a dire warning.

Rosemary found herself remembering that warning a month later, when she came in after an extra long weekend only to find several workmen arranging a disturbingly large number of pieces of new equipment in her lab. They hadn’t upset anything important, thank goodness—Rosemary was currently between projects, and had decided to take a half a week of vacation days to in order to fly out and visit her mother for a whirlwind trip that had mostly involved going to the beach—but they were an unwelcome sight all the same, especially as they had currently blocked off passage to her office at the back of the lab. So instead, she stormed Janet’s office, intent on getting an explanation.

Janet blanched when she saw Rosemary. “Oh. Rosemary. I thought you weren’t coming in again until tomorrow!” she exclaimed, clearly trying to sound glad to see Rosemary and being entirely unconvincing about it.

“Janet.” Rosemary glared at her lab manager, making it clear that wouldn’t work on her.

“Well, all right, I knew you were coming back today, but they were supposed to be done installing everything by Monday morning, only there was a mix-up with some of the shipping dates...”

“Mm-hm. And do you want to tell me _why_ there are burly men installing a metric fuck-ton of new equipment in my lab?”

“Well... now don’t be angry...” Janet started cautiously.

“I already _am_ angry,” Rosemary growled. “So just do it. Tell me. Rip the bandaid off and get it over with.”

“I only found out after you had left for your mini-break, you know. And I didn’t want to disturb your vacation for something that would only ruin it.”

Rosemary sighed and rubbed her temple. She had a headache. “So they _are_ shoving someone else into my lab?”

“At least you won’t be working at the same time most days, at least not once he’s been properly onboarded,” Janet offered up, a small consolation. “A bit of a night owl, I gather. He leapt on the chance to take an evening shift. You’ll overlap by maybe an hour or two, tops.”

“Except for all those times I work overtime,” Rosemary muttered. “Fine. I guess I can make it work. I’m not going to be happy about it, but I’ll make it work. Who am I getting stuck with?”

Janet looked immediately guilty. “Ah. Well.”

“ _Janet_. Darling Janet. _Who_ am I going to be sharing a lab with?” Rosemary could think of only one reason for Janet to look that guilty. But no. Janet wouldn’t do that to her, would she?

“In fairness,” Janet said weakly, “the two of you were already collaborating an awful lot.”

“ _No_. Absolutely not.”

“We don’t have anywhere else to put him.”

“No! I refuse! I am not, under _any_ circumstances, going to be sharing a _lab_ with Alexander-goddamn-pain-in-my-ass Hilbert!”

Just then Rosemary realized that Janet’s wide-eyed stare wasn’t directed at her. In fact, it was directed somewhere beyond her, in the director of the door that Rosemary hadn’t bothered closing after she had stormed into Janet’s office.

“How flattering,” a sarcastic, Russian-accented voice said from behind her.

An extremely _familiar_ Russian-accented voice. One she didn’t think she would ever forget.

But no, it couldn’t be, could it?

With a pit in her stomach, Rosemary turned to look at the new arrival. Presumably Alexander Hilbert... and yes, also very much the man she had had a one-night stand with while stuck in the airport due to inclement weather this past Christmas.

Well, _fuck._

Alexander glared at the woman he would be sharing a lab with. He had known that Dr. Epps might not exactly be happy to find out that she would be sharing space with him, given how they had occasionally clashed in the past, but he hadn’t expected her to be so... so _vocal_ about it. He had, in fact, rather hoped that she would appreciate not having to go through an irresponsible third party to arrange for collaboration. But here she was, yelling about how much she did not want to work with him, and staring at him like... well, staring at him like she had seen a ghost.

Alexander frowned. Now that he thought about it, she looked familiar. _Too_ familiar. Something about the set of those shoulders... but he had never visited this branch of the company, or at least not until the end of last week, and he did not think that she had ever visited his branch, so where....?

It was her earrings that made him realize exactly where and under what circumstances he had met her, the image of those brightly-colored glass baubles on the bedside table of an airport hotel room coalescing in his mind with a sickening lurch that sent the room spinning around him.

Rosemary. Dr. Epps’ first name was _Rosemary_.

And he did not think he would be able to work in the same lab as her without constantly being reminded of the fact that he had, some few months back, spent a night with this woman naked and wanton beneath him. And on top of him. And in every other position they had managed to cram in to that one short night they had spent together.

And from the look on her face, she had recognized him as well.

“Okayyyy. So. The vibe is _really_ awkward in here, so if I could just scootch past you both”—Alexander stepped automatically to one side to let his new lab manager, Janet Zhou, squeeze past him and out into the hallway—“and I’ll just give you two a little bit of alone time to work through whatever issues the two of you have with one another.”

“Janet!” Dr. Epps—Rosemary, _his_ Rosemary, the woman he had regretted leaving behind and who he had not hoped to meet again—sounded as if she were halfway between panic and despair.

“Nope. Not listening. The two of you can hash it out between you or take whatever this is to HR, but I’m officially declaring it none of my business,” Janet said cheerfully. “Now, I’m going to run out to that café down the street that is always _slammed_ at this time of the day and order the fanciest coffee drink they have on the menu. Which I will then enjoy, along with a chocolate croissant or two, in that self-same café. So my office is at your disposal for however long you need.” And with that, Janet briskly closed her office door in both of their faces.

After a long moment of excruciatingly awkward silence, Alexander turned his head in order to study Rosemary, cautious and sidelong, prepared to whip his head away if she protested his perusal. Her shoulders were stiff and her arms were crossed defensively in front of that impressive chest of hers, and she was eyeing him back with just as much caution as he was showing her.

Not promising. Not promising at all.

“You could,” she spat acidly into that awkward silence, “have at least told me what _company_ you worked for. Maybe then I could have avoided making the _worst_ goddamn mistake of my life.”

Alexander flinched at those words. His memory of that night in the airport hotel had been the one bright spot in his life over the past few months, especially as orders had come down from on high regarding his lab. It had been nice to slip back into that memory when he might have otherwise spent that time worrying about whether he would even have a job come the end of each week. And it had kept him company as he had packed up his entire life to move states for this new position, even as he had set aside his last hope that he would ever find himself in the same airport with her again.

So the thought that Rosemary regretted that night—that she now hated him for concealing something he hadn’t known would make a difference in how she regarded him, when they had been so enthralled by one another at the time—well, it stung a bit, that was all. And that wounded pride made him lash out in return.

“You could have told me yourself,” he responded coldly. “I am not the only one at fault here.”

Her mouth twisted angrily for a moment, and he braced himself for whatever invective she was about to unleash upon him... and then she sighed and shut her eyes, those stiff shoulders sagging a little. “You’re right,” she said sourly, as if she resented admitting it. “I’m just as much at fault in this as you are.” Her eyes snapped open and he flinched again under their stern and uncompromising regard. “Think we can work together without it getting awkward?”

 _No_ , he thought, watching as her teeth sank nervously into that plump lower lip of hers. _Definitely not._ “Yes. Absolutely,” he lied.

She eyed him suspiciously, as if she had heard those unspoken words. “All right, then. You stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”

“Very well.”

They stood there in awkward silence a little longer, until Rosemary sighed again and shook her head, appearing to wake herself from a daze. “Well, then. I’m just going to run along and see what state my— _our_ lab is in.”

Alexander nodded stiffly and stepped aside to let her past him and out the door. And then, with a groan, he stumbled over to one of the extra chairs Janet had in her office for meetings and collapsed gratefully into it. He had thought of a thousand and one things that might go wrong with his transfer to the labs here over the weeks leading up to it—many of them indeed involving Dr. Epps, before he had known she was Rosemary—but he _never_ would have ever expected something like _this_.

This was going to be hell.


End file.
